I was getting tired of my old hat and the slouchy part, so I wanted to make a warm hat with no slouch. I knew which yarn I wanted to use for it – the soft alpaca wool that I made a baby hat with a built-in scarf from. My son outgrew that hat and never really liked the alpaca fibers on his head anyway. Now I just needed the design. After a couple of weeks of searching, I settled on a simple hat with rolled up sides and a scrunched top – a no-frills hat that would show off the yarn.
I pulled apart the old hat and cast on the new one. It went up pretty quickly since it was all just stockinette stitch, but I was worried I wouldn’t have enough yarn with how much it was curling. It turned out fine though, and I finished it off with a few rows of continuous “k2tog” until I got down to about 5-6 stitches, which I just sewed together. I knit the whole thing very loosely so that the hairs are able to insulate.
When I was done, I noticed a major difference between the bottom that was from the existing hat and the top that was left in the skein. So I tried washing it, thinking that the drying process would even out the older yarn. That was a painful experience since the wet wool smelled really bad and took more than 3 dryer cycles to not even fully dry. I have to admit it didn’t fully work and the difference is still slightly noticeable, but it’s becoming less noticeable as I wear it more. And I am very happy with how soft, warm, and well-fitting it is.
Here are links to this project on Ravelry and Pinterest.
